GoFundMe is investigating after homeless man Johnny Bobbitt claims he was scammed out of his donation.

Crime

Homeless Samaritan can’t get GoFundMe money

by Staff writers with AP

25th Aug 2018 8:49 AM

A HOMELESS man who made headlines last year after he used his last $20 to help a stranded motorist in Philadelphia said he is panhandling once again because he has no access to the money raised on his behalf through GoFundMe.

Johnny Bobbitt gained worldwide attention when he paid to fill up the petrol tank of stranded motorist Kate McClure in November.

Homeless man Johnny Bobbitt gave Kate McClure his last $20 when her car ran out of petrol.

To thank him for the kind gesture, Ms McClure and her boyfriend Mark D'Amico started a GoFundMe campaign in return, promising that they would use the funds to buy Bobbitt a home.

However, Bobbitt told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he can't use the $200,000 ($A270,000) left out of the $400,000 ($A545,000) that donors raised on GoFundMe, and he no longer has a camper or a car.

Ms McClure insists the couple did all they could to help Bobbitt and in an interview with the Inquirer last week, Mr D'Amico said he controls the money and will start dispensing it when Bobbitt gets a job and stops using drugs.

"Giving him all that money, it's never going to happen. I'll burn it in front of him," he said, adding that giving an "addict" the money would be like "giving him a loaded gun."

Kate McClure and her boyfriend Mark D'Amico set up a GoFundMe page to raise donations for Bobbitt.

But Bobbitt questions the couple's motives and fears they may have squandered the money.

"I think it might have been good intentions in the beginning, but with that amount of money, I think it became greed," he said.

He also told the paper he was suspicions over how Ms McClure, a receptionist, is now driving a new BMW.

The couple has retaliated, saying the car was paid from their own money.

Bobbitt did, however, admit that the couple once gave him $25,000 and he spent it on giving it to relatives and friends, and some on drugs.

Bobbitt says he now fears the couple have squandered the money because he hasn’t been given any of it.

GoFundMe is investigating whether the money was mismanaged, and said it will work to ensure Bobbitt "receives the help he deserves and that the donors' intentions are honoured".